From Old East Slavic *городъ (gorodŭ), meaning "enclosed settlement, fortified place," from Proto-Slavic *gordъ, related to the verb *gorditi ("to enclose, fence"). Cognate with Polish gród, Czech hrad ("castle"), and ultimately sharing a root with the Gothic gards ("house") and English "garden" — all tracing back to Proto-Indo-European *gʰordʰo- ("enclosure").

Russian city names often appear in a locative form: "в Москве" (in Moscow), "в Петербурге" (in St. Petersburg). The word город also survives fossilized inside many Russian city names — Новгород ("New City"), Волгоград, Белгород — making it one of the most historically visible roots in the language. Notably, "Новгород" is a direct parallel to Latin "Neapolis" (Naples) and Greek "Neapolis," all meaning "new city."